Sunday, April 10, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Trail riders wend way to Old West discoveries, new friendships

A rider covers ground Saturday amid the remnants of an overnight snow on the Review-Journal Centennial Ride's final day. Tom Flagg of Henderson plays his guitar at the campsite Friday night, providing entertainment during the Review-Journal Centennial Ride. The ride was sponsored by the Review-Journal to commemorate its 100th birthday. Day breaks over the Spring Mountains on Saturday before riders started on the final day's journey of the Review-Journal Centennial Ride. Click image for enlargement. An overnight snow blankets the trail riders' campsite Saturday morning. Ellen Ross emerges from her tent Saturday morning to discover what's left of an overnight snow. Karen Amell of Boulder City carries a sack to the transport vehicle. Trail riders woke up to snow-covered dutch ovens Saturday. Riders make their way along the trail Saturday. Tuffy, a Welsh corgi belonging to Utah wranglers Cassi and Ladd Dick, takes a nap following a long day on the trail. Kyler Dick, 6, gets off his feet during the Saturday lunch break. Jose Gutierrez warms steaks on the grill following the three-day trail ride. John Wain, a John Wayne impersonator, performs Saturday at Bonnie Springs Ranch at the end of the Review-Journal trail ride. Photos by Isaac Brekken.

BONNIE SPRINGS RANCH -- Atop Lovell Canyon Wash at 5:50 a.m., a cowboy yelled out, "Merry Christmas."

Campers crawled out of their sleeping bags and were surprised to find a desert landscape covered in snow.

"Wasn't that the prettiest thing you ever saw?" said Steve Schlieper. "Only thing that could have been better is it could have been Christmas."

The crisp morning marked the final day of the Review-Journal Centennial Ride, a three-day trek across the Mojave Desert, following the Old Spanish Trail.

The 60-mile trip from Tecopa, Calif., to Bonnie Springs Ranch was sponsored by the Review-Journal to commemorate its 100th birthday.

It became apparent on the last day that the ride was about forming friendships, discovering Las Vegas' back yard and re-establishing a respect for the explorers who helped discover the trail and put the Las Vegas Valley on the map.

"We went a couple of days without a shower; they would go months," said Las Vegan Jack Hartsell of the pioneers. "It's hard to comprehend how you could go months without a bath."

Living dirty, cold and sometimes wet became fun rather than arduous by the time the riders finished at about 5 p.m. Saturday and rode into Bonnie Springs Ranch for a steak fry.

The group of about 40 wranglers and riders began the morning climbing the snowy Spring Mountains. The route then wound down into Red Rock Canyon's Willow Springs.

Slowly, the riders traversed rocky, dry creek beds filled with dead trees and sand into a red-dirt path soft as powder and speckled with lush green vegetation.

The group meandered around prickly pear cactus, Mormon tea bushes and Joshua trees.

"We've had snow, we've had rain, it's been pretty amazing," said Las Vegan Mike McCormack.

He came on the ride with his Irish accent and whiskey and said Saturday morning he'd keep in contact with many of his new friends he met on the trail and at the campfire held Friday evening.

"I came here looking for the beauty and I found it. I suppose what amazes me most about Vegas is people say there is nothing to do. It's in your back yard," he said of the desert terrain.

Those who helped discover the Old Spanish Trail such as John C. Fremont, Antonio Armijo and Jedediah Smith discovered different paths across the all-weather route from Santa Fe, N.M., to northern Utah or Southern California.

But the path the group took Saturday provided lush grazing land and ample water to horse thieves who hid their stolen horses within the canyons.

"Can you imagine what they must have thought as they rode through here?" said Cassi Dick, a wrangler from Utah, as she rode her horse down into Red Rock.

The family dog, Tuffy, a Welsh corgi who isn't more than a foot tall, followed on his short legs the entire journey.

She and 11 other wranglers -- including her husband, Ladd Dick -- were a favorite part of the trip for many of the riders, who said they wouldn't have made the long trek without their help.

The wranglers saved many a rider from injury and told entertaining stories about their lives as ropers and ranchers in Utah.

"You don't want for anything. You drop something and they'll pick it up for you," Karen Amell said.

The entire group stopped before heading onto the final stretch on Highway 159 and into Bonnie Springs to wait for Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman at 3 p.m. He was supposed to ride into the ranch on top of a stagecoach, leading trail riders.

As the group waited, a cold rainstorm came and passed. Horses grazed on nearby grass.

"Twenty miles we travel and he's late," McCormack said.

Another rider quipped, "Maybe they couldn't get him out of a bar."

Goodman never showed. But Col. Walter Givhan, commander at Nellis Air Force Base; Review-Journal publisher Sherman Frederick and his family; John Wayne impersonator John Wain; and Ernie Sites, a cowboy poet, led the group into the ranch in wagons instead.

And in the final steps the horses made, the last for at least this journey, the horse under Judy Santeiman, 58, a former rodeo queen, spooked.

She held on with one leg for about three seconds before she hit the ground, but she wasn't injured.

She wasn't the first to fall that day. In fact, there had been many who hit the dirt during the trip and were ready for a beer or a bath when they dismounted.

"It's a double-edged sword. I'm sad to be off the horse but incredibly grateful," said Kacey Santeiman, a member of the Blue Man Group in Las Vegas. "This was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience."